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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Gloria Garibaldina Extra Donna

Possibly one of the coolest mixte bicycles in existence. Currently listed on ebay by a well-known Boston seller and closing in less than an hour. Listing states this bicycle is unrestored and in original condition which is exceptional for a bike built circa 1939-1940.

Ebay troll can only watch with empty pockets as Sauron keeps his eye on other worldly matters...

ADDIT: passed in at USD $2,125. May well be a crisis on the horizon...

5 comments:

When you see Glorias like this on eBay, you would be wise to question what you see. There is nothing even remotely like this bike in their 1939 catalog. It is, however, fairly close to what's in their 1950 catalog.

Thanks for that. I know very little about Glorias but I am rather partial to their trefoil lugs. You probably already know about the other Garibaldina that this seller has listed on ebay at present. I suspect it will go for more than the initial $5000 USD "buy it now" option.

Gridplan ought to get his facts straight. To look in a catalog and conclude that a specific bike did not exist is completely flawed logic. Gloria, as well as Bianchi, Ganna, Cinelli and others produced more cycles outside of their catalog range than within it. For example, Gloria's Reparto Corsa (race division) built custom bikes to order that were way different than the catalog drawing. Do you think they would make a litho etching of every model they could produce?? This particular bike happens to be date stamped in several areas - hub axels, bottom bracket axel, steerer - all '39. In addition, Arrigo Cinelli did not produce stems after WW2. Seems Gridplan is on a slander mission. As a person who has collected Gloria cycles (along with most other Italian, French, Brit. and US marques) for over 40 years, I am confident of this. I own 12 Gloria cycles at the moment, and find the anomolies between limited catalog images and actual production to be the norm.

I'd love to know more about Glorias, but can only find the basic facts about these beautiful bikes. I currently have two, both of which are very much restored, but they maintain the look feel and beauty of the originals.

About Me

This blog was originally written to counter misinformation spreading on the internet about Campagnolo's delta brakes. If you are looking for that it's my first post in August 2008. Now excuse me if I indulge myself...